by Bruce Ackland and Bill GoodwinSocitm, the local authority IT
directors association, was drawn into controversy this week
following a row between senior officers over its increasingly
commercial approach.
Tim Dawes, director of consulting firm Nineveh and a longstanding
Socitm member, accused the group of sacrificing its independence to
promote its consultancy business.
IT directors fear the row could damage Socitm's key role in helping
local authorities meet Tony Blair's targets for putting services
online.
Dawes has terminated Nineveh's contract to provide training
services for Socitm in protest at what he felt to be undue pressure
to use training courses to promote commercial services.
"It seems to me that Socitm is becoming a commercial operation. The
society was the strong voice of local government IT but now it has
lost a lot of credibility," he said.
Dawes claimed he was put under "considerable pressure" to use
Socitm training courses, supplied by Nineveh, to market Socitm's
research and IT consulting services.
"I believe strongly that an organisation like Socitm should protect
the independence and integrity of the advice it offers," said
Dawes. "Socitm Consulting has always been aggressively marketed,
but it now seems that the society is unable to keep its commercial
side separate from its non-commercial side."
The cancellation of the Nineveh contract followed a request from a
Socitm director to adapt training courses for the "subtle
promotion" of Socitm Consultancy. Dawes said he was prepared to
distribute marketing material but drew the line at any further
promotion.
However, the society stands by its approach. "Socitm has asked Tim
Dawes, like any other stream manager, to make sure that people
using one service are aware of another," said a spokesman. "Members
are interested to know what other things Socitm does."
Mike Barkway, chairman of Socitm's service company, said, "We are
sorry to see him go but it is in the best interests of our
customers to make them fully aware of our services. I think Tim
decided it was not in his best commercial interests to do this."